Evidence of infidelities spreads online in wake of hack

Posted:
Thursday, August 20, 2015 2:53 PM EDT

LONDON (AP) -- Husbands and wives across the world are waking up to their partners' extramarital affairs after a catastrophic leak at adultery website Ashley Madison spewed electronic evidence of infidelities across the Internet.

Online forums buzzed Thursday with users claiming to have found evidence that they caught their significant other on the site. In Britain and Israel, parliamentarians were put on the defensive after their email addresses were identified in the trove. One woman in Australia appeared to learn, live on air, that her husband's email was registered with the site.

As police investigate the hack, the human cost is already reverberating online. One family law attorney said his colleagues were predicting "Christmas in September."

"Pretty soon all of this stuff is going to surface," said Los Angeles-based divorce lawyer Steve Mindel.